


Between The Lines

by lazy_af_fox



Category: American Assassin, American Assassin (movie), American Assassin - Vince Flynn
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2018-12-30 23:36:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12119736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazy_af_fox/pseuds/lazy_af_fox
Summary: Hurley's daughter is transferred from a mental institution straight to her father's house in Virginia where he hopes she can get better sooner than if she was spending her days in the company of a bunch of lunatics. Since the six months training program has just started a couple of days earlier, Amy is facing the strict rule of not talking to the recruits once again. But she's just like her father so she eventually starts talking to one of them, a guy who's known as Irv.





	1. prologue

"Oh, I know this look," Amy said with a malicious smile as she climbed out from backseat of the car in front of the house that stood in the middle of the woods, far from civilization. "This is your ' _I'm disappointed in you'_ look."

As her father walked down the wooden stairs, he nodded in the CIA agents' direction to make them leave. She wondered what was going to happen next because this was the very last place where she'd expected to be that day. Those agents just showed up in the institution and somehow convinced her doctor to discharge her sooner. In her case, it wasn't necessarily a smart move.

When he stopped in front of Amy, he took off his baseball cap and let out a long sigh. "What happened?"

"My roommate freaked out and called 911 on me. They took me to the psych ward and sedated me for a several days," she quickly summarized the events of her last few weeks.

"And what's your problem? Do they know?"

"It's schizophrenia with paranoia. Sounds familiar?" she asked, flashing a mocking smile at him. "They gave me an antipsychotic drug which seems to help so far."

"Just don't stop taking it until the doctor says so," he warned Amy before taking the suitcase from her. "When Kennedy called and told me about what happened to you I convinced her to bring you here. Maybe the new environment will help you."

It had been a while since he last acted like an actual father who truly cared about her well-being, and this time she knew he was really worried, even if he didn't let it show. Not like that was surprising, though, after all he had always hoped she wouldn't inherit his illness.

The two of them walked inside the house, going straight to the spare room upstairs in which she could stay for the next couple of days or weeks. It wasn't _hers_ , but it was familiar enough to make her feel home. On the way there she was greeted by her father's dog who was extremely happy to see her again. "Dogs are the best therapists," her father had once said and he wasn't mistaken since this greeting immediately managed to make her smile.

"How can you handle this so well?" she suddenly asked, making her dad come to an abrupt halt. "I mean, handling your schizophrenia in your line of work."

"Experience and proper medication," he said without thinking. "It's pretty simple." He kept a short pause as he patted his dog's head. "Don't worry; you'll learn it sooner or later."

Once in the room, Amy put her suitcase on the bed and turned to her father as she scratched the back of her neck. "Do you have any recruits here?"

"Yes, I do, but don't talk to them," he said sternly with his arms folded over his chest. "And I'm serious about that one, okay? Leave them alone. If you see one, turn around and walk away."

Amy only rolled her eyes at him at first, but once she received a disapproving look she said, "Alright, I got it. Care to explain why?"

"No," he replied shortly before simply walking out of the door, leaving her alone for now.

Taking a deep breath she looked out of the window. It was so quiet in the middle of nowhere that she wasn't sure how she wouldn't hear the noises she heard every now and then. If she hadn't known any better, she would've said her father was some crazy, textbook doomsday prepper for moving here.

Her siblings and mother actually believed he was one because he never talked about what he did these days, years after he'd officially retired. Amy only knew about this place because both her father and Irene Kennedy knew about her interest in what they were doing. She even went to MIT to learn new ways he could use to create more efficient weapons and gadgets they could use in these trainings.

But now that it became clear she was also schizophrenic her plans to join the CIA were apparently about to fail. There was no way she could officially work for them, the most she could expect now was her father letting her stay and help with training the rookies.

Then her thoughts were drawn back to the woods when a figure showed up, a young guy with brown hair who was seemingly heading to the woods for a run. He wasn't familiar so she guessed he was one of the new recruits.

Her father's rule of not talking to them was still ridiculous but she had a feeling it was connected to Ronnie, after all she'd known him best before everything went wrong with him. So yeah, her father's anger regarding the ex-agent and previous protégé was perfectly understandable, though, and part of her couldn't really blame him for being extra cautious these days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick note: I'm going to use a few things from the book - like the names the recruits used. (For those who don't know, Mitch is Irving, shortened to Irv.) Also on the Mitch Rapp wikia page there's the following sentence about Hurley: Secretary of State Franklin Wilson describes Hurley as "a certified paranoid schizophrenic and a sadist." In American Assassin (I mean in the novel) they mention that he has daughters so I thought I could use that.  
> What do you think?


	2. Chapter 2

Mitch had a feeling that Hurley probably wouldn’t appreciate his plan to go for a run so late and alone but he couldn’t care less. He needed this; he needed a little break from this crazy daily routine. That man and his lapdogs were sadistic psychos and he couldn’t be convinced otherwise. These dark woods were perfect for those who wanted to clear their heads so he was willing to risk of any of the instructors yelling at him… again.

What if he didn’t get caught? Nothing; he’d be yelled at anyway which meant he should at least give them a reason for it.

Dick had already given up the program that morning, while Bill was kicked out for telling Victor his real name. Two down, four to go. It was not bad after only five days.

What also intrigued him was a car that arrived in the early evening, one that was similar to the car he’d arrived in with Kennedy a couple of days earlier. It surely wasn’t a new recruit because there were still five of them to his knowledge and they hadn’t even announced the arrival of a new one either. But that girl was greeted by Hurley when she showed up with a suitcase.

Could it be a relative? Maybe a daughter? She was definitely young enough to be his daughter. But the more he thought about this theory the less sense it made. This location was so secret that recruits were transported here blindfolded. His own daughter knowing about this place was probably a huge liability.

Shaking his head he dismissed the thought and kept running, thinking about how he would get through this six months long program that he still considered a waste of time. At the end of the day, though, it didn’t really matter what he thought because he could only get what he wanted if he successfully finished it. He had to prove himself and he knew it wouldn’t be easy, especially not around assholes like Victor.

“Irving!” a familiar voice roared behind him so loudly he had no choice but to come to an abrupt halt. When he turned around he noted that it was the short and skinny guy, Sergeant Smith who marched in his direction. Even though it was hard to tell from this distance and in the dark, but he could swear his face was already red from the yelling that was to come. “What the fuck are you doing out here?”

With his hand on his hips he took a look around and said, “Clearly I came out for a run. Is that a problem, sir?”

“Damn right it’s a problem!” Smith barked, pointing in the direction of the barn. “Now get your ass back there!”

Reluctantly, but Mitch did as he was told and began to run back to the barn where the others were probably sleeping already. Smith, on the other hand, didn’t join him; for some reason he decided to watch him disappear in a corner and went on minding his own business. This wasn’t the only thing that seemed to be out of place: Sergeant Jones, the shrink and even Hurley were out there with flashlights, clearly looking for something.

Or someone.

Acting out of instinct he changed his course and left the path to hide from the instructors. All of them being out here in the middle of the night, searching like this could even mean they weren’t alone, that there was an intruder they wanted to find. Then again, why not waking up the recruits to help with that? It could’ve been a test.

Meaning, they wanted to keep it to themselves.

Now he wanted to know what or who they were looking for like this so he decided to follow the shrink--the one person he hoped wouldn’t find out that he was being followed. He wasn’t sure the others wouldn’t figure it out within minutes.

After almost half an hour Mitch began to consider going back to sleep since he didn’t believe they could find what they were looking for now. If it was a person, they could just hide some hole or climb on a tree and would possibly go unnoticed in such darkness. Well, that’s what he would do that is.

Then he felt a hand grab his right ankle so suddenly that he almost fell flat on his face. “Shit,” he hissed as he looked down, seeing a small figure crouching behind a large tree. It was a girl, the same one he’d seen arriving earlier. “Let me go!”

The girl did as she was told but tried to hush him nonetheless. “Quiet or they’ll find us.”

“Who?”

“Them,” she replied quickly, nodding her head towards the man not far from them.

He leaned to the side to take a look at his surroundings with the men with flashlight. “So they’re looking for you?” he asked quietly before turning back to the girl.

“I guess. I don’t know.” Her voice was uncertain as she spoke, her eyes fixed on her hands. “I mean, I saw the flashlights and came out to see what’s up and I kept hearing my name.”

“That’s understandable since they’re probably trying to find you,” he pointed out with a frown. “Okay, no, this doesn’t make any sense so let’s just go back to the beginning. Who are you?”

The girl tilted her head to the side. “You’re one of the recruits, right?”

“What makes you think that?”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere and I know pretty much everyone,” she summarized with a nervous smile. “You’re new.”

Mitch couldn’t help but smile at her, maybe to calm her down a bit. Something was off about her but he couldn’t figure out what it was exactly. “And you’re the girl who arrived this evening.”

“So you saw me?” Suddenly her body froze and she gulped loudly. “Wait, you’re the one who’s after me, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“Fuck it,” she suddenly said before jumping up and running away.

From where he was Mitch watched the girl moving around the trees carefully so she wouldn’t be found. This was one of the weirdest meetings he’d had in a while and he had a feeling something was wrong with her. But he wasn’t ready to hear a familiar voice in the distance say, “Hey, sweetheart, it’s me. Calm down and take a deep breath, okay? You need to come back to the house with me.”

It was Hurley’s voice, he knew it. As he walked a bit to the right, closer to the path, he saw the man standing in front of the girl with his hands resting on her shoulders. So she really was his daughter after all and he clearly had a soft spot for her. That last one was truly unexpected.


	3. Chapter 3

“You’re here, alone, clearly ready to talk to me. Let me guess,” Amy began as she sat on a chair across from Dr. Lewis, “it’s about what happened last night.”

The doctor slowly nodded in response. “I’d like to hear what happened exactly.”

“I panicked,” came her extremely short explanation which made the man let out a long, tired sigh. Getting something out of her was just as hard as if he was talking to her father. But, for his surprise, she suddenly decided to go on. “I think I had a nightmare and I heard noises from outside. I don’t know why but I left the house to see what was going on. Who knows, maybe it was only my meds playing tricks on my brain and messing with my perception of reality.”

“You do know that you’re overrationalizing things, right?” When he realized the young woman wouldn’t respond to his question he stood up and walked over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. “Listen, I’m only here to keep an eye on one of the recruits, not you, okay? But since I’m here, I thought I should see if I could help you.”

Upon hearing this Amy visibly relaxed a bit and became less defensive. It was good and he had a feeling it really was a temporary glitch and nothing more. He’d known this girl for years and was also aware of the fact she truly was her father’s daughter and the two shared way too many good and bad qualities. Like him, she could be incredibly stubborn and lately she was apparently irrational too.

“So which recruit brought you here?” she suddenly asked, breaking the silence with a question he wasn’t expecting to hear.

“I can’t talk about this.”

“Oh, come on, just give me a clue,” she tried. “There were seven of them but two left yesterday so only five remained… Well, four since we know Victor.” Here she kept a short pause before saying, “It’s Irving, isn’t it? Dad clearly hates him.”

Lewis couldn’t hide his smile. She was smart, just like her father, seeing through all the bullshit surrounding the truth. It was a great ability to have though people like these two could be easily deceived by what could be seen on the surface. The whole mess with Rapp was the prime example: Hurley was losing it whenever it came to him since he was convinced Kennedy was hiding something about the kid.

The fact father and daughter were apparently fascinated by the same person was a bit surprising and he began to wonder why it happened this way. Maybe Amy was only reacting to her father’s growing irritation of Rapp.

“You’re still forbidden to talk to the recruits, aren’t you?”

Amy shrugged. “That doesn’t change anything.”

“Actually it does,” Hurley spoke up behind them, carefully navigating to the table with a cup of coffee. As he sat down next to the shrink he gave his daughter a scolding look. “Which one have you chatter with?”

“Neither.”

“Liar,” he replied, the bottom of his cup hitting the wooden desk with a loud thud. “Which one?”

With and annoyed groan she leaned back in her chair and defensively crossed her arms over her chest. “Irving, though I’m not sure if that conversation even happened to begin with.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning I saw him go for a run before I went to sleep. Maybe that conversation was only a part of my nightmare.”

Hurley let out a long sigh. Part of him hoped it was Rapp who talked to her so he could finally give him the boot but without proper evidence there was nothing he could do. He already had to listen to Irene praising the boy and his potential and he didn’t need another reason to piss her off. Also Lewis’ presence was a bit unsettling because he knew the doctor was carefully watching his every move and word.

But right now it wasn’t about Rapp; it was about his daughter’s mental health. He’d been able to handle his schizophrenia since he was diagnosed but the situation was different in Amy’s case. She was young and inexperienced which drew all his fatherly instincts to the surface.

He’d had a soft spot for all his children but this young lady was always different. She was like his clone, a younger female version of him. It was breaking his heart to see her so broken, especially after the previous night in the woods.

“Do you want to stay here?” he suddenly asked as he looked at the girl. “I don’t want you to feel like I was forcing you to stay.”

For long moments Amy remained silent and he became worried that she was about to tell him she wanted to leave. Sure his hands were already full with the recruits and all but she was still his daughter.

“I need access to the VR training room,” she suddenly stated.

“Why the hell would you need that? It’s not some fancy playground, Amy,” he pointed out.

“I need that because it’s interesting and I’m an engineered in case you’ve forgotten.”

“You haven’t finished your studies at MIT yet.” Hurley knew he’d made a mistake when his daughter inhaled sharply and even Lewis gave him a warning look. “What I’m trying to say,” he spoke up again after clearing his throat, “is that it’s the CIA’s property for training the recruits, not playing around like you were in an arcade.”

Amy tilted her head to the side before turning to Lewis, “See? He’s treating me like I was still five. No wonder he and Irene are always bickering about something.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout-out to ZeynepD: your comment made my day <3

Since they spent every day with training Mitch usually enjoyed the time they could spend by the lake to cool off a bit. Now that he and Hurley unspokenly agreed to tolerate each other things were for the first time quite good. With Fred around things were a bit easier because Hurley and the instructors didn't pay all of their attention to him alone.

"It's still crazy that you broke Victor's arm," Fred suddenly spoke up and his words were followed by a short laugh. "Did you know he wasn't really one of us then?"

Mitch glanced over at the other man and shrugged. "That doesn't really change anything, does it?"

Letting out a quiet hum Fred nodded. "That's true. He was a real dick."

Silence fell between them as they enjoyed the sun and temporary peace by the lake. But Mitch couldn't quite relax because his brain was on overdrive about the girl he'd met the previous night. Something was clearly wrong with her and he couldn't really understand why Hurley brought her here from all places. Didn't she have a mother to stay with?

"Have you met Hurley's daughter?" he suddenly turned to Fred.

The other recruit sat up and looked at Mitch with a frown. "I had no idea Hurley even had a daughter to begin with." After the short pause he kept, though, he went on. "Wait, are we talking about that redhead?"

"Yeah, she arrived a few days ago," Mitch began as he threw a rock in the lake. "But she's weird. I mean, I met her in the woods last night when I went for a run. She thought I was trying to catch her and she was totally freaked out."

"Well, knowing her father," Fred slowly began, "I'm not surprised to hear this."

With knitted eyebrows Mitch turned to him. Part of him agreed with his opinion but he also knew that neither of them knew the girl. If he wanted to be totally honest with himself, he was actually interested in what Hurley's daughter was like.

"You know what? I'll talk to her," he suddenly announced to Fred, driven by his curiosity.

"Are you crazy? Hurley will kill you if he finds out!"

"Then I'll make sure he won't find out," he casually replied.

He had no idea if the girl had told her father about their brief encounter but he still had a feeling the man somehow knew about it. And it wasn't only him: in the morning, soon after he'd broken Victor's arm, even the shrink gave him a series of strange looks. It wasn't just about the incident, it was probably something more.

Later that day Mitch tried to figure out which room belonged to the girl in the house. That was the easiest way to talk to her, by climbing up to the window and simply breaking in. It was just some personal and unofficial mission for him.

Once everything fell silent he decided it was time to move. With a quick glance he made sure Fred was asleep then left the barn, heading towards the house with careful steps. The last thing he wanted was getting caught, especially after the incident from that morning.

Climbing up was the easy part after he'd successfully identified the right window. Problems began when he was expected to open it, because that paranoid asshole known as Hurley had some weird lock installed to make sure the window couldn't be open from outside.

Mitch wondered what the reason was. Had someone climbed in her room before? Maybe it was another recruit. That would explain why they weren't properly introduced.

Since he couldn't open the window, and breaking it was also out of the question, Mitch decided to do the least expected thing: he knocked.

"What the hell are you doing out there?" the girl asked in a harsh whisper as she opened the window.

Mitch flashed an almost apologetic smile at her, hoping she would remain this calm if he acted friendly. "I'm sorry, but apparently this is the only way I can talk to you," he admitted and it wasn't even a lie.

"My father will give you the boot if he finds out you were here," she explained, though she stepped aside to let him in nonetheless. "Does this mean we really met last night? Out in the woods, I mean."

What kind of question was that? Was she really doubting their encounter had even happened? She was weird and not in the good sense of the word; it was almost creepy. "Yes, that happened. Why would you ask something like this?" he questioned as his feet touched he wooden floor.

"I was just... Nah, nevermind. You're Irving, right?" Mitch nodded in response. "I'm Amy."

"Let me guess," he began, even though what he was about to say wasn't really a guess, "you're Hurley's daughter."

"I am."

The girl walked back to her bad and sat down, placing a pillow in her lap as she pulled up her left leg. When she patted the mattress next to where she sat, Mitch gulped and occupied the empty space next to him.

"Why are you here? This place is pretty much located in the middle of nowhere," he told her.

"It was dad's idea. I have... a problem and he thought a change of scenery could probably help me," Amy explained. "Why does he hate you so much?"

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, it's pretty obvious, even for me."

Mitch shrugged. "I don't know and honestly I don't even care." For a few minutes they only sat there in silence and he didn't miss the orange box full of pills on the nightstand when he took a good look around. "Why weren't you freaked out when I knocked on the window? I thought I'd have to spend some time trying to calm you down."

"You're not the first recruit to show up with a bunch of questions," she casually replied.

He nodded and they fell silent again. There were so many questions he wanted to ask about the previous night but first he had to gain her trust. Maybe it would take a few visits to find out more about her but it was worth the wait, after all she could even give him some intel about Hurley.

"Alright, I'd better go now before your dad finds out I'm here," he said as he stood up with a small smile. "See you later, I guess."

"Goodnight, Irving."

Amy followed him to the window and once he climbed out she closed it behind him. She was strange but his first impression of her was the exact opposite he'd had of her father, after all this girl seemed to be quite nice.


	5. Chapter 5

“How was your sleep?” Hurley asked once her daughter showed up in the living room, reaching out to scratch the head of his dog.

Amy let out a deep groan as she shook her head and walked over to the couch to sit next to her father. “Short.”

“As usual then,” he noted with a smile.

“So what’s your plan for today?”

Upon hearing this he fell silent, his eyes even narrowing as he carefully watched her. “Why?” he asked suspiciously.

The girl shrugged. “What, I can’t just ask you this?”

“You can, but I know you well enough to see you want something from me.”

‘Damn his good instincts,’ she thought bitterly, though at the same time she also admired him for this ability. “Okay, I was thinking about using the VR training room today,” she eventually admitted.

Hurley laughed as he shook his head. “No chance, I’m taking the recruits there.”

“Can I join you then?” she tried.

“Absolutely not.”

“Oh, come on.”

“I said no.”

“Please,” Amy said with puppy eyes, knowing perfectly well it could work.

Since Hurley loved his daughters this technique usually worked on him and they were all aware of that. In the end he put up his hands and let out a long sigh of defeat. “Fine,” he said.

“Yes, thank you!” she squealed as she jumped up from the couch.

Later in the morning Amy followed her father’s lead as they headed to the training room but was too nervous to ask him the series of questions that he had on her mind. Could she test the equipment? Would Irving be there? If yes, could she ask him about his experiences with the device?

Then again mentioning Irving would give away her interest in the very man that could enrage her father so easily. The very last thing she needed now was a good old interrogation. So she kept quiet and watched in silence how her dad instructed his team as they prepared for the arrival of the recruits.

“Can I try it?” she suddenly asked.

Every man in the room turned to her with raised eyebrows before turning their attention to her father. She considered trying the puppy eyes again, though she also highly doubted it would work twice within a matter of hours. In the end it turned out she was right: the answer was no.

Then the recruits arrived and she didn’t miss the surprise in Irving’s eyes as he briefly looked at her. He was smart; he knew he couldn’t spend much time looking at her without having to face some tough questions. Amy was still a bit nervous as her father once again told the recruits the rules they knew so well by now. This clearly wasn’t their first day in this training room.

“Questions?”

“None,” came the reply from Irving and the other guy on his right.

Once the test began Amy noticed how seriously her father took this task. He continuously instructed the team and she couldn’t help but notice a picture he regularly sent to Irving’s device. “Who’s this guy?” she eventually asked.

“No one,” her father replied.

“Come on, you keep sending the same face to--”

Hurley put up his hand as he turned to her. “It’s no one.”

She nodded, accepting the fact he wouldn’t tell her anything about what was really going on. Understanding the main purpose of this test was more than easy and she quickly understood how it worked. Irving looked like he could handle it much better than the other once as he was the last man standing after a while. When they turned off the device and Irving got rid of his VR glasses their eyes met for a brief moment and she smiled at him reassuringly. Knowing her father was messing with him on purpose made her surprisingly upset but at least he took it well.

Then she saw it; a shadowy figure out of the corner of her eyes. It stood near the main entrance of the building but apparently she was the only one who noticed. And she could swear she could also see the door close as it disappeared which immediately got her attention. Was it real? Or was it another hallucination? She glanced over at Dr. Lewis and thought about her medication. It was supposed to work. It was supposed to make things better, wasn’t it?

This meant what she saw had to be real so she slowly took a few steps back and then headed towards the door.

“Hey, where are you going?” her father called after her.

“I just need some… fresh air,” she replied after she gulped. On the way out she stole a gun from one of the guys and left as fast as she could.

She knew what she saw, there had to be someone, someone that wasn’t the part of the team since she knew every single one of them. Outside in the woods she noticed the person in what looked like a black trench coat and even heard him moving around. It had to be real. The person moved fast among the trees so she had to run to keep up with them.

“Stop!” she called after them with the gun raised but it didn’t work.

In the end she couldn’t really remember where she was or how long she’d been running. The only thing she noticed was someone catching up and grabbing her by the waist. She instinctively elbowed them in the stomach but their grip remained tight, and she could do nothing but watch as the man in black watched her from afar.

“Let me go and catch that guy instead!”

“What guy?”

Only then did she realize it was Irving who caught her. “The man in black who’s standing right there,” she explained, pointing forward with her head.

“There’s no one. It’s only us in the entire woods,” he said.

“No, no, no, he’s right there,” Amy whispered.

“Amy!” She turned around as much as she could and saw her father approach. Suddenly Irving’s grip loosened and she could step away from him. “What the hell are you doing? And give me the gun!”

She opened her mouth to talk but she remained silent once she noticed the man in black wasn’t there anymore. “I saw him,” she said quietly as she handed over the gun then fell on her knees. “I saw someone and I followed them.”

As she looked up at her father fighting her tears she saw Irving leave upon her father’s order. She stole a gun and ran off alone. Amy knew perfectly well she was in trouble, otherwise her father would’ve never let the recruits come out after her.

“Let’s go back to the house and talk, okay?” Dr. Lewis asked when he kneeled next to her. “Come on.”

Amy didn’t resist anymore. She nodded and did exactly what she was told.


End file.
